total new to telecopes need help

[thevlump]

hiya i live in the north of england and im looking to buy a telecopes as have been interested this subject since i was a child so im looking for a telecopes thats can show me planets quiet clearly and galaxy if that possible and have a budget of around 300 to 350 and anyone give me some ideas on which telecopes to buy for around that price any help would be great thanks

[swamp thing]

Hi

Sounds to me like you need an all round scope.

An 8" Dob would serve you well.

Regards Steve

[rowan46]

here you go the best all round telescope money can buy (for the price)

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

[umadog]

The telescope recommended above will show you Jupiter's moons and cloud-belts, saturn's rings, polar caps on mars, and thousands of deep-space objects. It's not a bad choice at all. Just remember that galaxies and nebulae look B&W and faint in any telescope. No telescope will show you anything approaching a photograph, no matter what you pay. However, with a little patience you can make out lots of details in the brighter objects. It helps greatly to have a location where the sky is dark. In fact, this is more important than which telescope you buy.

[Dave006]

Hi and welcome, you need to decide a few things first before you jump in and buy a scope. 1: what you want to see. 2: where will you be using the scope, eg back garden only or do you want to take to a dark site. 3: is storage space an issue. 4: do you want a motorised goto mount or an equatorial mount.

All these need to be considered but the best advise is just explore the site and trawl back through the beginners section of the forum and you should be able to find all the info you need.

Dark skies

[umadog]

It is definitely worth trawling through the beginner's section. This question is asked with great regularity so a lot of answers are already here. I'm not saying that to put your off asking questions: people are more than happy to answer. It's just that you'll get more information more quickly if you read through the threads.

[JohnnyD333]

Hi and welcome,

All good advice, dobs give you the biggest bang for your buck so I agree with that recommendation. When you buy your scope, a cloud usually follows it to your house and will cover the sky for about two weeks:)

[thevlump]

wow thanks for all your advice made it alot easyer for me to pick a scope to pick from

[thevlump]

what would be the best 1 if i went for a motorised goto mount

[hemihaggis]

the best goto i my opinion yo start with would be a 127 mak , easy to transport , almost maintanence free and exellent optics , quite robust . awsome on planets and the moon , abd pretty good on dso`s

[swamp thing]

For the same sort of money?

I would agree with Hemihaggis about the Mak, but not on his choice of power plant ( Chevy rule ).

Regards Steve

[badboybubby]

the best goto i my opinion yo start with would be a 127 mak , easy to transport , almost maintanence free and exellent optics , quite robust . awsome on planets and the moon , abd pretty good on dso`s

Seconded, I bought a Skywatcher AZ GOTO Mak 127 Synscan and cant recommend it enought, its easy to transport gives very good views of planets, albeit a little limited on DSO's

[thevlump]

thanks for more comments ive just look at this scope Celestron NexStar 130 SLT 130mm go-to altazimuth reflector

just wondered if this scope is any good for stars and planet it says u can see the 31 andromeda from it

[Doug]

Hi

At first I was not going to say anything as I thought your questions were answered

but as you are asking a new question I would ask do you live in a built up area do street light make your sky glow if so I would keep to a 8" scope (200mm) as light glow is so bad in city area's this was the advise I got from the guy's at my club when I joint and that advise stands today

clear skies

Doug

Essex UK

[cosmological]

I think the original suggestion of the Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian is the best one, it's a bigger telescope for your money, you might be limited to what you can see with the mak. If it's your first telescope then it's best not to have GOTO IMO, a GOTO won't teach you where everything is in the sky and how to find it if you don't already know.

[thevlump]

i think im going to go for the Skywatcher AZ GOTO Mak 127 Synscan as i have limited space in the garden and i no nothing about the night sky this is why im going to go for that one which was advice by Hemihaggis when i learn more about the sky and i upgrade to something different thanks everyone for the help im truely great ive also been advice to get x2 barlow lens to go with it

[umadog]

If you live somewhere dark then you can see M31 with the naked eye. You can see all of the Messier objects with binoculars. Be wary of advertising that says you can see "object X" with a given scope. It's misleading.

When you strip everything away a gross generalisation is that is aperture is aperture. It doesn't matter if it's a Mak, Newt, or a refractor. Within reason, the bigger the aperture the better. If you buy a more expensive scope design (like a refractor or a cat) then you will end up with less aperture. If you buy GoTo you will end up with less aperture for your money. The question is whether you want to accept the aperture hit per unit money in favour of the advantages offered by a particular scope design or a particular feature. Note also that every scope design has plus and minus points. Research them. There's no free lunch.

[rowan46]

goto's are great but the problem is it may hit the target but there's nothing to see when you get there. a telescope works by collecting light the bigger the the apparture the more light it collects, the eyepiece then magnifies the image. There is a saying in astronomy that apparture is king. tranlated this means get the biggest telescope you can mange for your purposes. goto is fine on small scopes but it limits you to fairly bright objects a bigger scope will see more and further. However if you really need portability the 127 skywatcher mak is very good but if you want to see more and have a car the 200p dob will blow it away visually. the 200p is transportable rather than portable

[cosmological]

I notice on the adverts for the mak it says you can get 300X magnification, although I've never looked through one of them but considering the focal ratio of f/11.81 you might struggle to see anything at that magnification.

[John]

I notice on the adverts for the mak it says you can get 300X magnification, although I've never looked through one of them but considering the focal ratio of f/11.81 you might struggle to see anything at that magnification.

You are right to be doubtful, 150x - 200x would be a practical maximum most of the time, despite what the advert says

A scope is not all about magnification anyway - it's primary role is light gathering, which is why aperture (the diameter of the main mirror or lens) is so important.

Many astro objects are at their best at low or medium magnifications

[thevlump]

id be using it in my garden and theres few few lights but there is a really big field not far away and another problem is i am disabled so im limited to what i can carry and move and i think the 200p dob be to heavy to move and i dont have alot of no how about the sky and where thinks are this is why i thought of the GOTO to make it easyer with it been my first scope

[Ags]

Welcome to the forum. A small Mak can show you a lot. It will be great on planets and the moon.

[M4lcs67]

My two pence... I do like my Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT. A GOTO Mak would also be good for you as it is compact and easily transportable and easy to set up. The darker the nights are becoming means that I am hopefully going to be getting some serious stargazing in. Since I bought it I have been restricted due to the light nights and also the dreaded cloud cover putting the mokkers on me doing more.

However now that autumn/winter approach I am looking forward to properly putting the scope through it's paces. I was outside with it last night in my east facing garden and has some brilliant views of Jupiter and it's moons.

Bring it on!!!!!!!!

[Quatermass]

If you can go to a local astronomy society and take a look through some of there telescopes that might help you make a good choice. One thing I would say is dont buy a telescope until you have had a good old try with the one you want to buy. I rushed into buying my first one and ended up trading it in again for a bigger one. As for a go to set up I dont favour them I think you will learn more about the night sky looking for them yourself but then again if your disabled then I can see how a smaller scope and a go to unit would help you out. But I still say have a good old try with the scope you decide on before you buy it if you can or better still go to your local astronomy society's and try there scopes first I wish that was what I had done first but you live and learn hey.

[hemihaggis]

For the same sort of money?

I would agree with Hemihaggis about the Mak, but not on his choice of power plant ( Chevy rule ).

Regards Steve

haha i see you know what a hemi is lol

im sure if you google my name you will see my pics and videos of my hemi dragracing on photobucket and generally being much better than a chevy:hello2: and much cooler :glasses1:

ps sorry for the off topic truck talk !!! blame swamp thing

pps the mak was my first real scope , and it did teach me lots about the sky ,with the sw alignment system you have to know the names of a good few bright stars and thier position to align the scope .